In my latest efforts to eat healthy, I have been trying to not eat out or order in. Which was definitely hard after a whole week of eating out while on vacation. When I was making my grocery list for this past week, I had an intense craving for Chinese take out, and specifically beef and broccoli. I have no idea what they put in that stuff to make it so delicious, but it probably isn’t healthy. So after searching for several beef and broccoli recipes to satisfy my take-out craving, I pieced together my own crock pot version. I decided to throw in bok choy as well, because it sounded like a nice combination. And I’ll fit in my daily servings of veggies wherever I can get them.
Prep and Cook time – ~15 minutes prep plus 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high; plus 15 minutes on high
Servings: 4-5
What you’ll need:
3 green onions, chopped (white and green parts)
1 1/2 pounds of beef round steak, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
3 small heads of broccoli
1 bunch of bok choy (I ended up using only about half the bundle, but its all about your preferred broccoli to bok choy ratio)
1/2 cup water
1 3/4-ounce envelope of reduced sodium beef gravy mix
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon garlic powder
What to do:
Slice the beef and place it in the slow cooker. In a bowl mix together the water, gravy mix, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. Pour mixture over beef. Cover and cook for 8 hours on high or 4 hours on law. 15 minutes before you’re ready to serve, cut the broccoli heads into smaller pieces and chop the bok choy into about 1 inch chunks. Put the veggies in the slow cooker and turn it on high for 15 minutes, or until broccoli is tender but still crisp. Serve and enjoy!
I hope you find this to be a satisfying alternative to take-out, especially if you’re attempting to make some healthy changes. It can be so difficult to change your eating habits, especially if you’re home alone and look forward to the idea of leftovers for lunch. And then maybe dinner again. There’s certainly nothing better than leftover pizza during the middle of a crazy work day. But don’t worry, this recipe warms ups well for lunch, too! And my co-workers were pretty impressed to find out that it was homemade!
the reasonable cook 